THE POINT OF THE SPEAR:

F-16 sale and Taiwan (Richard Halloran, July 22, 2008, Washington Times)

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz.

The four F-16 fighter planes lined up with military precision, wingtip-to-wingtip on the ramp in the desert heat, jet engines throttled back while the ground crews ducked underneath to give them last-minute safety checks. Then, one by one, the pilots taxied to the runway, went to full throttle, and roared into the air for gunnery and bomb training.

At the top of their tails, the F-16s carried white tailbands inscribed "Gamblers," the nickname for the 21st Fighter Squadron of the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) on Taiwan. The Gamblers are posted permanently at this U.S. Air Force Base for advanced training because they don't have the air space or the target ranges on their island home.

Moreover, USAF fighter pilots, a breed not known for reticence, claim that Luke AFB provides the finest training in the supersonic F-16 in a world in which more than 4,000 of the fighters are flown in 25 air forces from Bahrain to Venezuela. The F-16s may be best known for the Israeli Air Force raid into Iraq that destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981. Every Israeli bomb hit the target. [...]

The F-16s under consideration now are models C and D with improved navigation, advanced missiles, and more powerful engines. They can attack in bad weather and at night and would pose a potential threat to the launch sites of 1,400 Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan across the 120-mile-wide strait separating the island from the mainland.